You have some really interesting choices. I have never really considered Chen Lu and MK as rivals. Chen Lu had problems with consistency, esp. with her lutz, so her track record pales in comparison. Both were exquisite, but while I listed MK as the heavy favorite to win gold in Nagano, I didn't see Chen Lu even on the podium.

In 94-95, they met once and that was at Worlds where Chen Lu won gold and MK was 4th. In 95-96, MK won everything she entered, while Chen Lu was 2nd at WC, 4th at the final and 2nd at SA. In 96-97, MK and Chen Lu were 2nd vs. 25th (Worlds), with Chen Lu withdrawing from her Grand Prix assignments. In 97-98, MK won everything except the Olympics, where she came second to Lu Chen's 3rd. They have met six times with Chen Lu winning only once. Chen Lu was a great skater who had all the goodies, but couldn't keep on top of the game.

No Johnny killed that rivalry. Sure he tried all he could to keep it alive with "rivalry" comments to the press but the fact is that talk does not make a rivalry. It aids fuel to the fire when there are tow skaters repeatedly battling it out for the same title, but if one of said skaters does not actually challange the other when the the lights go down, the rivalry is dead. The fact that Johnny's last national title was in 2006, his only world medal came when Evan did not compete speaks for itself. The fact that Johnny has grown less consistent while Evan grew more so pretty much sealed the dea.

I agree with you. As much as the media would like a rivalry, Johnny's own performances killed this rivalry. This year was Johnny's best since his last title win and his choreo, while lovely, did not have enough to win with COP without 'help' at the world level. The rivalry was probably valid from about 2004-2007. I think they pushed each other then, but now it's Jeremy that's pushing Evan at Nationals.